Are you tired of waiting in line for your favorite leg press machine? Are you sick of driving twenty minutes each way just to work out? The hassles of working out in a commercial gym may promot you to consider the benefits of working out at home. But have you stopped to count the costs and benefits of building your own home gym? There are plenty of both, so take a moment to consider the following before you start measuring your garage for your new power rack.
The most obvious benefit of having your own home gym is that big fat check that you would not be writing to somebody else each month. It may not seem like much, one check at a time, but over the course of a year, you are paying hundreds if not thousands of dollars for the privilege of sweating on somebody else’s floor. Don’t forget to count the cost of your personal trainer at the gym, both the fee you pay the trainer and the extra markup the gym owner takes. By working out at home, you will save the cost of the gym membership, and if you do hire a personal trainer, you can cut out the middleman fees and just pay the trainer directly.
You must also remember to figure in the incidental expenses you have at the gym. The first thing to consider is the cost of getting to the gym. You may be one of the lucky ones who work next door to the gym, saving any additional transportation expenses. But if you are driving ten miles to the gym every night after work, and then another ten miles home, your gym membership is costing you an additional tank of gas every two weeks.
Additional hidden expenses include the fancy workout clothes you buy to impress your gym mates, when you would get the same workout in old sweatpants and a faded t-shirt at home. And what about all of those energy bars and protein shakes you consume at the gym? You could eat the same snacks and meals at home at grocery prices instead of expensive convenience prices.
Having the flexibility to workout on your own schedule is usually the number one benefit that people are looking for in a home gym. This is especially important if your lifestyle is hectic with every minute scheduled. It only takes a ten minute wait for your favorite ab machine to set your entire schedule back.
Of course, there are also a few drawbacks to working out at home. First, you need to consider the monetary investment you will have when you buy home exercise equipment. It is not unusal for each workout machine to cost anywhere from a couple hundred, to a couple thousand, dollars, but used equipment is often an option. Of course, when used properly, gym equipment tends to last forever so you will only have to make the initial investment once. And home exercise equipment holds it value well, so you should have a ready market if you later decide to sell your equipment.
Perhaps the biggest drawback of working out at home is the isolation. While some folks relish the solitude of working out by themselves, others require a push from other people to get them motivated. You can mitigate the loneliness at home by surrounding yourself with your favorite music, utilizing headphones if you are living with others. Perhaps most importantly, the lack of a spotting partner can be a dangerous drawback of working out at home. The ideal home gym is often shared with a roommate or a neighbor.
It is fair to say that a home gym usually pays for itself after the first few months. Of course, you may find that the emotional costs are just too high, in which case you should sell your home gym equipment on Craig’s List and go back to to your mates at the gym.